


Friendship of Rosemarie 'Rose' Hathaway and Princess Vasilisa Sabina Rhea "Lissa" Dragomir

by FanfictionReader2015AD



Category: Vampire Academy & Related Fandoms, Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24844378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanfictionReader2015AD/pseuds/FanfictionReader2015AD
Summary: Alternative TitleCompulsive Behaviour
Relationships: Lissa Dragomir & Rose Hathaway, Lissa Dragomir/Rose Hathaway
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Title  
> Compulsive Behaviour

The first bloodcurdling scream which echoed into the starry night was enough to make me certain something was wrong. The second scream a few moments later was the final straw. The danger was certainly afoot, and I couldn’t just sit idly and let it happen. I twitched in my seat, legs eager to take off in a frenzied sprint, but  Darko’s hand pushed itself across my waist.

“Don’t even think about it.” He said in his monotonous tone and glaring at me. Who the fuck did he think he was, anyway?   
“Dude, he’s in danger, and we’re just sitting on our thumbs over here.”   
“ Tyrese can handle himself, Rose. Don’t patronize him with your concern.”   
“He’s going to get hurt!”   
“And we’re going to get hurt if we try to help,” he said, shaking his head. “Stop trying to play hero and wait for him to get back.” I rested my back against the chair again, rolling my eyes as I sighed in irritation. I rolled my tongue against my canine teeth, tempted to pierce it with a sharp edge.   
“Great,” I said, “Not only is my friend in danger, but I have to sit idly in silence with his boring-as-fuck brother. Woo, can’ t wait for the next few moments of my life.”

I never really got along with  Darko, but  Tyrese insisted that I try to make friends with him. It was just impossible to talk to  Darko though; he’s so fucking boring! He constantly has this look on his face that makes everyone in his presence question his will to live (I swear, if I didn’t know better I’d instantly think he was a nihilist). He had never done anything cool or impressive that I ever saw at this point, and I can’t recall a time he ever spoke about himself.

I think that’s the main thing I hated about him; how fucking distant he was.  I have no doubt that he felt an emotion so much more intensely than the rest of us, but he hid it so well behind a resting bitch face.   
At the very least, he was tall and felt very safe to be around at the worst of times. He looked at things logically rather than emotionally (just another layer to his mask) and could lift uneasiness in any room.

Well, at the cost of replacing it with awkwardness.

It was an agonizing cycle; the longer I waited, the stronger the urge to intervene became.  Darko however, was adamant that we did not need to put ourselves at risk; what was so dangerous that I couldn’t take it out anyway? The seconds were slow to disfigure themselves into minutes and the itch to move only grew stronger.  Tyrese was strong, I couldn’t deny that… but worry and boredom were a deadly mixture.   
“Hey,  Darko ?” I asked as I moved my hand to the side of the chair.   
“What?” I knocked my knuckles lightly against the harder part of the chair.   
“You hear that?”   
“No-one’s at the door this late, Rose.” My eyes shifted up and to the right as I racked my brain.   
“ Uhh, it’s probably for me. I ordered something a while ago.”   
“Nice try.” He said, standing up. “Just stay where you are, it’s not safe.” He took off slowly towards the front door. Not exactly how I wanted it to go, but the open window offered a makeshift way out of the house while  Darko answered the door to an imaginary delivery boy.

I felt the cold air immediately against my skin as I stood with my back against the window.  The night certainly wasn’t young.  I looked something like Amy Lee in that one video, only I was one floor above the ground rather than fifty million. I could probably just jump down and take a slight injury, but I decided it wasn’t worth the risk and slowly clambered down from the painstakingly decorated wall of St. Vladimir’ s. Damn it,  Darko was rubbing off on me already!

Hopping down from a lower ledge, I took off in the direction I thought I heard the scream from. I struggled to shake the feeling that I was being stalked, I think they called it ‘caveman’s instinct’ or something? I was hallucinating the feeling of breath on my neck as my feet carried me as fast as they could towards the grand entrance of the school. Peeking through the bars of the padlocked gates into the outside world of Montana’s forests, I saw somebody I didn’t recognize with their back to a tree. Immediately I noticed her angelic features; her long blond locks spilling out from her head, her beautiful pale skin lighting up the night around her, her pretty white dress, scuffed at the hem with dirt, similar to the mud plastering her knees.

Then I noticed the blue hemp rope wrapped tightly around her waist, binding her tightly to the thick oak tree she stood against. I also noticed her arms were reaching behind her as though they were stuck there. My confusion was fucking immeasurable; what was going on here?   
I gripped the metal bars, preparing myself to climb over but stopped when I heard rustling from the trees on the other side of the girl. A red stain of light emanated from the direction of the sound, and I dropped to the floor. I peeked through the gates. The rustling grew louder. Quickly, a  humanoid figure presented itself. They were stunningly beautiful;  their immaculate complexion and glistening red eyes made for a breathtaking sight,  and their shiny fluffy hair made it clear that they had not forgotten to shower this morning.  Fangs bore; its legs carried it slowly like a lobotomized zombie towards the girl… evidently its prey. The girl began to scream out for help, and I instantly recognized it as the scream  Darko and I had heard earlier echoed in my mind.

“The prized daughter of Tatiana herself…” the creature growled, “…tonight, we feast!” I thought I’d seen her face somewhere! Vasilisa Dragomir; one of the Moroi royals! As Vasilisa wriggled and tugged ferociously at her binds, another figure approached from behind the tree.  
“Indeed.” The second figure called out with a distinctly feminine voice. She limped around the tree and stood beside the man, the two of them slowing their pace and approaching Vasilisa.  
“What happened to the Ozera? What have you become?” She said, shaking her head in disdain.  
“Death is a fearsome thing, Dragomir.” The man said, lifting his upper lip and licking his teeth. His fangs reflected the red sheen of his eyes causing them to glint menacingly. “Right now, you must completely understand this.”  
“Don’t tell me..!”  
“Our new alignment promises immortality, no fear of leaving this world behind.”  
“No fear of my beauty slipping through the hourglass.” The woman added.  
“No fear… of losing touch with him...” They said in unison.  
“You imbeciles! You have already lost your son; Christian will never join you!” Vasilisa’s struggling grew more intense, aggressive strain plaguing her face as she fought the rope with as much strength as she could muster.  
“Perhaps before, we would have worried about that. But he will see sense.” The woman said, clenching her fists. “Now, to kill you or make you one of us…?”

“Release me at once!” The duo picked up their pace, making a quick dash towards the helpless girl. With their mouths wide open, drool streaming from out of their gaping maws they recklessly lunged for Vasalisa…  
“That’s enough, ya’ vile bitches!” I recognized him instantly from that voice. Tyrese dropped down from the tree and landed atop the two oppressors, one foot on each of their faces. Straining his hands and raising them into the air, a bundle of roots emerges from the dirt ground, tightly constricting the wrists and ankles of the Ozera. Violent thorns emerged from within the roots, latching into their skin and tightening the grip. “Y’all need a chill out with this power trip, thinkin’ you’re somethin’ you ain’t!” I grabbed the bars again, tired of waiting, and ready to intervene when a hand gripped my shoulder from behind.


	2. Chapter 1

“What did I tell you, Rose? I can’t turn my back on you for a second!” The voice alerted Tyrese, who looked over at us concerned.  
“Darko? You can’t be here, it ain’t safe, bro!” He hurried over to the gate, holding the bars from the other side. I looked at Darko, then at Tyrese; the shared worry on their faces (no matter how minuscule from Darko) reminded me that they were brothers. Despite all their differences, they were brothers.  
“I know it’s not safe, Ty. That’s why I have to drag this imbecile away.” Darko said as he shook me by the shoulder.  
“Not sure if you’re being serious or just sexist,” I said with a dramatic sigh.  
“Nobody said anything about-“  
“Rose, do you see that fine lady there? Princess of Dragomir?” Tyrese points to Vasilisa, still struggling against her binds. “You could very well end up like that, sweetie. So could I. And yan no, better me than you, ya feel?”  


“Alright, take all the credit then, you greedy fucker.” I said with a smirk, “At the very least it looks like you have things under control.”   
“Did  ya expect  anything ’ less?” He triumphantly announced, nodding in self-affirmation.    
“Hey!”  Vasilisa called from the tree, “Can we save the idle chit chat for later? I’m in a bit of a bind here!”    
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Rose, why don’t you go and release her then, since you want some of the credit so much?”  Tyrese looked down at the attackers he had subdued, “I think their heads should be more than enough credit for me!”   
“Finally, some fun,” I whispered enthusiastically. Clambering up the gate I scowled down at  Darko. “Look up and I’ll kill you.”   
“I had no intention.” He said, shaking his head as I reached the top of the gate, vaulting it and landing on my feet. I noticed a patch of grass growing where I had landed, much longer than the grass everywhere else.   
“You’re welcome for a soft landing.”  Tyrese grinned.

I hurried over to  Vasilisa, frantically searching my pockets for something sharp enough to cut through the rope. I looked at her face, even more, angelic up close.   
“You’re gonna be ok, just hang on,” I said.   
“Can you not untie ropes or something? It’s a basic skill.”  Vasilisa taunted.   
“Ah, so that’s what you get up to at night.” I nodded in response, “Good to know.”   
“Oh please. You wish you could get up to that.”  This girl. “Use your fangs or something.”   
“Alright then.” I partially knelt down into an awkward position, getting my mouth close enough to the rope. “Hope you’re into being bitten too.”   
“Stop projecting your fantasies onto me,  Dhampir bloodwhore .” Usually, I hatedthis kind of back-sass, but  Vasilisa had a certain charm to her that I couldn’t resist. It felt like I’d known her long enough to make the worst jokes and still be able to laugh about them, even though I’d only just met her.   


My fangs got to work on the rope, gnawing away rather quickly at the fibers and easing the tension against her wrists. There were vicious red marks left on her skin from where the ropes had been which made me grimace to look at.   
“Hey, hurry up over there!”  Darko called out, looking down at his wrist. “I don’t want to be held accountable for anything that happens here!”   
“Chill, you’ve got nothing better to be doing,” I respond, releasing  Vasilisa’s wrists without a single tooth-mark on her skin. Not bad, if I say so myself. Immediately I got to work on the rope around her waist, which appeared to be a little bit thicker. The bristly texture began to make my teeth feel rubbery and sent goosebumps crawling up my skin.   
“Rose, look out!”  Tyrese called from behind me, as the apprehended  Ozera couple began charging towards me, long thorny roots dangling from their hands and feet, still latched into them. I stopped biting the rope and readied myself to fight; these guys were nothing! I prepared for a roundhouse kick, but the woman caught my leg, picked me up, and threw me with an excessive amount of force. Hurtling in the air, I saw  Tyrese sweep the legs of the attackers with a stumbling block made of stone. They both clawed at the air as they tripped and fell. The strength was inhuman; I left my imprint in the dirt as I landed hard on my back. How was this possible?   


Quickly they regained their stances and glared daggers into my eyes. I saw the red aura glowing on my chest. Vasilisa and I exchanged horrified glances while she used her untied hands to pull at the weakened rope, slowly wriggling free.  
“Yo, sellouts! Over here!” Tyrese called as the Ozeracouple turned around at astonishing speed. He was waving a piece of paper in his hand, and I had less than a second to squint and make out a family photo.  
“Christian?” Vasilisa announced before the attackers gave rapid pursuit to Tyrese.  
“Give that back, fiend!” They said in unison.  
“Take it from me, bitches!” He said as he took off into the night forest, tailcoats trailing after him. Rose could have sworn she’d seen him make a strange hand gesture to her, but had no idea how to interpret it. Darko gripped the gate as his knuckles grew increasingly defined, yelling out his brother’s name.  


“I have to help him.” He said through gritted teeth, making an effort to climb the gate, but a large mass of thorny vines grew up from the ground, covering the gate completely. Darko was forced to let go, hanging his head in shame.  
“Looks like he doesn’t want your help. Not surprised.” I said.  
“He doesn’t seem to want yours, either.” I looked down at my legs, completely constricted in white roots and vines. Any effort to run after Tyrese was met with resistance I couldn’t match.   
“Crafty bastard,” I said, clawing at the vines with my hands. Scaling ease began falling over me though, and I couldn’t figure out at the time what it was. I felt at ease, comforted by somebody’s presence in my mind. Comforted by the very very early break of dawn.

I later learned that  Vasilisa had a power called ‘Compulsion’, and had used it to make me less likely to do anything reckless. She pulled me into a deep slumber, visions of the event leaving my mind for the time being.


	3. Chapter 2

I felt a cold sweat break out over my body, but I couldn’t at first tell if I was conscious. I felt somebody’s hand press softly against my forehead, and I  twitched impulsively before fluttering my eyelids open. The events of last night began to flood back into my mind, and so did the questions. What happened to  Tyrese, and was he alright? I know he knows how to handle himself, but…   
Where did the strength of those people come from? I’ve never been sent flying from a physical hit before.   
What was  Vasilisa, the princess of the  Dragomir bloodline, doing bound to a tree? Why was she being attacked?   
What time was it?   


Then the ache began to rage in my back and my arms. I jolted up from what I assumed was my bed, holding my hands against my back as though I were 60 years old. I  heard a couple of clicks as I pushed outwards.   
“You’re awake at last. Thank goodness.” I felt the strange material to the right of me; it felt more like a sofa than a bed. Not long after, I figured out that I was sleeping on somebody else’s sofa rather than my own bed, and I confusedly looked around the room, not recognizing anything.   
“ Vasilisa ?” I asked, rubbing my eyes and yawning.   
“That’s me,” her voice called from another room, “You didn’t have your room key with you, so I just took you to my place for some rest.”   
“Oh. Thanks, I guess,” I said, propping a cushion between my chest and my arms. 

I gasped at the squishiness of the cushion; this was a luxurious place to be sure. The big arched fireplace painted white gaped at me, partially covered by a strange metal grating which I didn’t recognize. The wallpaper was some strange fleur-de-lis or something, I wasn’t too sure. The cushion had golden tassels on either side and smelled absolutely aromatic.    
I quickly lost interest though; I have some sense of social life and don’t sit at home knitting and watching Homes under the Hammer or Grand Designs. I’m not boring like that.   
“That’s a nice skirt,” she said as she bobbed back into the room, “Where did you get it from?” I picked at it with my fingers; they explored the texture of the rough fabric and thick pleats, and my eyes took in the strange burgundy color.   
“Promise not to laugh?”   
“I can’t promise that.”   
“The Salvation Army.” I grimaced, biting my tongue as I awaited the response.   
“Oh, wow; charitable and fashionable. Aren’t you just an angel?” She gave me a sweet and genuine smile. Quite a refreshing response compared to the usual mocking and exaggerated praise which I knew was also mockery.   
“Not really charitable. If it was in Matalan I would have still bought it. It just happened to be in a charity shop.”   
“If you say so, charitable,” she chuckled, taking a seat on the armchair opposite me.   
“I can make space here.”    
“No, don’t worry about it. You stay comfy; you probably have a lot of things to ask me. ” She tucked a tuft of hair behind her ear. “You need to be comfy for storytime, after all.”   


“I thought I already had it all figured out, to be honest. Innocent looking girl secretly has a kidnapping and damsel in distress fetish.”  Vasilisa snickered, taking a sip of tea.   
“I do not look innocent, let’s clear that one up.” She made comforting eye-contact. “I presume that was your first time seeing real  Strigoi ?”   
“Those were  Strigoi ?”  I asked eyes widened.   
It was the dumbest question ever; I should have instantly made the connection that those two were  Strigoi. They matched all the criteria we currently know. They were astonishingly beautiful, and their physical strength was definitely enough to tick that box. They had that strange red hue and could see perfectly in the dark and seemed relatively unaffected by the thorns digging into their wrists and Achilles’ heels. Looking back on it, I should have known. But for whatever reason, I was oblivious.   


“Yes. I went out walking because I needed the fresh air… at least, that’s why I think I went out.” She stopped to think for a moment, face scrunched up in thought. After a moment, she continued: “Then I remembered that one Christian Ozera was trying to get hold of me, so I went to see him.”  
“Did that creep do this to you?” I asked, scoffing. “I’ve half a mind to put my knee somewhere he’ll feel it.”  
“No, it wasn’t him. I found his parents standing outside his door. Turns out, they’d recently turned Strigoi.”  
“I mean… I guess his weirdo-ness has to come from somewhere, right? But for his parents to go to the dark side… why?” I started to grow confused. “I recall they said that they were worried about dying of old age and growing ugly, but that’s hardly a reason.”  
“Don’t judge others the way you’d judge yourself. It’s an incredibly inaccurate way to look at the world.” Her words weren’t spoken harshly, rather as if I were being reminded of something I’d forgotten. “But I do agree; there may be some other incentive.”  
“Hate to suggest this, but maybe we go to Christian’s house? They wanted to go in there, right?”  


“Try not to be so impatient and impulsive. There’s still a story to tell.” I eased myself back into the cozy sofa, resting my chin on the cushion. After nodding at  Vasilisa, understanding that more context was at the ready, she continued to tell me what had happened.   
“So  Christian’s parents started chasing after me, obviously wanting to either kill me or turn me. I wasn’t going to let either of those things happen though…”


	4. Chapter 3

Vasilisa explained to me about the pursuit. Having newly turned  Strigoi, the couple were still adapting to their sudden change in abilities. Sometimes  Vasilisa would look back to see them rapidly gaining on her in a frenzied sprint, and at others they would just be standing still, exchanging glances and catching their breath. Being a fire wielder, she was able to ignite patches of grass beneath their feet, momentarily stunning them in breathtaking pillars of fire as they clawed viciously in an effort to escape.   


Eventually leading them to the entrance gates of St. Vladimir’s,  Vasilisa stopped to catch her own breath, but there was little time to do so. The new  Strigoi was warming up quickly to their powers and her fire wasn’t holding them for long anymore. Her only option was to climb over the gate and out into the forest.

“I knew that I wasn’t going to make it,” she continued, “I’m not the best at parkour and they were coming so fast, so I had to enlist some help. It didn’t really matter who, just so long as I reached out to the right person.”   
“So it did matter who, then?” I asked, confused.   
“No, I could’ve telepathically spoken to anyone I had chosen. I just needed somebody who fulfilled two criteria.”   
“And what were those criteria, Sherlock Holmes?” I asked with a chuckle. I was surprised at how little of this conversation was going over my head; listening has never been my strong suit, but right now I was fully engaged.   
“Well, this person needed to be charismatic enough to be listened to if I had died. ” I nodded. “I also couldn’t rely on Compulsion alone. The person needed to know me well enough to know what to say to the academy if I died, and be willing to defend me to prevent my death at all costs.” ( Vasilisa then explained to me what Compulsion was.)   


“So,  Tyrese got the message? I didn’t think he knew you at all.” I knew that  Tyrese was popular around the academy for his physical attractiveness and outgoing personality, but I never thought that popularity would reach the princess!   
“I’ve known him and  Darko for a while. At first, I couldn’t stand them, but they were very interested to learn about the  Dragomir bloodline.  Interested and persistent… so I eventually gave in.”   
“ But I thought  Tyrese was- “ A loud thud at the door interrupted our conversation. Dark chills started running down my spine and the goosebumps returned. Immediately I knew something wasn’ t right; it felt like a ghost was sitting undetected in the corner of the room.   
“Uh, I’ll get it,” I said, rising from the sofa.   
“No, we’ll go together.”  Vasilisa offered as she got up too. 

We both began heading towards the door with our hands in our pockets, nervous. “By the way, just call me  Lissa. Your internal monologue is clunky using my full name.” Apart from I felt weirded out that someone could hear all of my thoughts, but at the same time; I went to Vampire Academy! People were shooting fireballs, stabbing silver stakes into dummies,  biting into blood donors (the list goes on….) all the time. This was hardly something to get worked up about.   
More importantly, we made our way to the door. Someone was pounding on it with their fist, and I  peeked my eye through the little hole at the top.   
“It’s  Darko,” I said, uneasily looking at his distraught facial expression,  then continuing: “And there’s someone with him. A campus official or whatever their fancy name is.”   
“Step aside, then. Guess I have no choice ..”

She huffed reluctantly as I took a few steps backward, bumping into a fancy vase which made a loud noise. It circled on the spot, threatening to tip over the moment I stopped looking at it. I placed my arms around it, straightening it and returning it to its original place.  Lissa looked at me with a grin, rolling her eyes before fixing her expression and opening the door.   
“ Your Royal Highness.” The man in the black suit said, bowing before  Lissa.   
“Oh, spare me the formalities. What brings you here? I’m trying to make friends.”    
“ Tyrese Miller has gone missing.  Darko here reported two  Strigoi intruders last night who were antagonizing him and you.  Any idea where he might have gotten to?”   
“ Not a clue, I’m afraid,” she sighed, “those  Strigoi chased him off into the forest. Direct any search parties to the left of the entrance gates.”   
“Right away,  your Royal Highness.  Darko asked to be left with you, is that acceptable?”   
“I suppose that’s fine.”  Lissa huffed, stepping aside for him to enter the house. The man in the suit bowed again and stepped away from the door, ready to bear the news to the next person.

  
Darko immediately grabbed hold of  Lissa’s wrist, patting his other hand over the marks on her wrists.   
“Ah! Unhand me!” She said, slapping his face with her fingertips. The loud smack made me grimace with a grin.   
“ Those marks … I’m not dreaming, am I? He really is gone!” For the first time, I heard panic rising up through his vocal cords. His eyebrows were unnaturally turned upwards and his lips were tightly shut. His face didn’t suit emotional expression… well, I guess that’s harsh. I suppose I just wasn’t used to seeing it. He looked so alien!   
“You could be out there finding him, you know? Not here groveling for reassurance.”  Lissa said, shaking her head in disdain.   
“Where’s Rose? She’s not missing too, right?”   
“Open your fuckin ’ eyes, idiot. I’m right here.” I waved from behind  Lissa, minding the vase and standing beside  Lissa.   
“Oh, thank God. Listen, I need your help.”   
“YOU, need MY help?” I scoffed. “This is new. ”   
“Mock me all you want. Just… come with me!” He said as he grabbed me by the arm, dragging me outside with some level of force. Having experienced the strength of a  Strigoi firsthand, the physical power of a regular  Moroi began to pale in comparison.   


“Hey, Rose. Don’t be too long; I still need to thank you for saving me.” Personally I didn’t feel as if I had done much in terms of saving  Lissa. I merely undid her binds.  Darko continued to drag me out of the house as I relaxed all my body weight just to give him a hard time. Before long, we were outside at the main square in front of the academy.


	5. Chapter 4

“Ok, I need you to help me train to fight a  Strigoi, Rose.” Darko stood opposite me, fists brought up to his chest and clenched. He was light on his toes but not exactly mobile. Normally fighters are all bouncy and ready to spring forward at any moment, but  Darko was relatively still.   
“Why me, man?” I asked, shaking my head. “I’ve never fought one properly before!”   
“ Tyrese isn’t here to spar with me. You’re the closest thing to a friend I have left.”   
“ Thing, huh?” No, I wasn’t offended that he didn’t call me a friend; that would have been an insult. I was certainly more than just “a thing” though. I looked around at the tall academy building, surrounding 3 of our immediate directions with arched windows and gargoyles. A window lit with a dull yellow light violently shuts its net curtain as Rose glances at the grand clock. 5:30. Soon, there would be a sunrise.    


“Just… don’t hold back.” He uttered, glaring deeply into my face and looking me up and down every now and then. We circled slowly around on the grass field, minding the statue to our right. “Have you ever lost a family member, Rose?”   
“I’m not close enough to any of them to care if I do lose one,” I said, furrowing my eyebrows. What even was that question?   
“Ah, that explains your behavior then.”   
“Excuse me?” I growled.   
“ Tyrese means everything to me, Rose. If he ends up not coming home, I’ll be distraught.”   
“He can handle himself, you know,” I said, making a move on him. Sprinting forward, I throw a punch his way, which he catches in one hand and attempts to throw to the side, but I remain grounded and release my hand as he swings it away from him. My other fist is quick to strike his side, knocking him away from me.   


“Don’t be a fool. You saw what those guys could do to you, right? He’s in enough danger to make a guardian paranoid.”   
“Well I’m a  dhampir and I’m not concerned.”  Darko sprung for me (rather slowly, being so heavy on his feet) and made a lunge for my waist with his fist. Mirroring his method of defense, I gripped his fist tight in my own hand, unaware of his leg sweeping my feet from beneath me. My grip grew tighter as I used his body weight to pull myself up before I made an impact with the ground,  striking him in the thigh with my free elbow. As he released my fist, he pushed me away. My back made contact with something hard, reviving the aches from when I had woken up. I turned around, watching a stone slab sink back into the ground, evidently a creation of  Darko’s. Obviously he must be mastering Earth. Suits him; boring.    


“ Dhampir doesn’t necessarily mean guardian. It wouldn’t surprise me if you  weren’t a guardian.” He said as we began circling in dialogue again.   
“What’s that meant to mean?” I asked, “I could be a guardian if I applied myself.”   
“I need you to be less predictable for this. I can read you like a book.”   
“That’s what you think. There’s more to me than you think.” I feigned a strike forward, forcing him momentarily into a defensive stance.   
“I knew you’d say something like that.” He threw his hand upwards, casting pebbles into the air. Throwing his hand forwards, he threw the rocks hurtling towards me in a scattershot. I ducked beneath them, moving my hand in front of my face to catch one. Next came the soil manipulation, a trick I’d seen in one of my classes. The mud beneath me began to moisten and grip onto my shoes, threatening to pull them in. I jumped forward quickly, trying to emulate a combat roll of sorts. I threw the stone up towards his face, forcing him to step backward. Landing on my left foot,  I pounced onto my right and swiped forwards with my arm. He blocked with his own arm but threw himself off balance, allowing my other arm a free strike at his right hip. He fell onto his back with a grimacing face, holding his hip in his hands as he recovered. While he did so, I backed off to give him space.   


“How’s that for predictable?” I gloated, cracking my knuckles for Round 2.   
“I was expecting you to keep going. That what a  Strigoi would do,” he remarked, dusting his trousers off.   
“Alright, I won’t hold back this time,” I say, lunging forwards before a hand grips the scruff of my collar. “Ah! Get off!” I yelled, turning around.    
“What are you two doing out so late? Not causing trouble, I hope?” His frail old voice murmured. 

Victor Dashkov, somehow a distant relative to Lissa, and the prince of one of the 12 royal families. Despite only being in his forties, he seemed to be aging at an alarming rate (grey hair, wrinkled skin, decreased motor skills, etc.) and was very weak in the knees causing him to walk in a strange little hobble. Perhaps he just didn’t take a great amount of care of himself, but for a royal, that seemed a little outlandish.  
“Of course we’re not causing trouble,” Darko said, quickly swiping a clump of mud off of his shirt.   
“Well, do keep the noise down. I’d hate for you to wake any early sleepers.” He stood beside me, releasing my collar and sighing. “If you are, as you say, not causing trouble then what are you doing? My interest is piqued.”  
“We’re practicing our fighting. What’s it to you?” I hiss, getting up in his face. He backs up a little bit, holding his hands up.  
“Now, now. I didn’t stroll by to stop you. Fight to your heart’s content. I’m merely searching for clues about a missing student.” Darko immediately ran over to Victor, gripping his scarf tightly.  
“You wouldn’t be looking for a Tyrese Miller, would you?” he pleaded.  
“Now, that might have been his name, yes,” Victor muttered, lightly tapping Darko’s hands in a successful effort to remove them from his scarf. “He really shouldn’t have been playing around outside of the academy’s walls, but teens will be rebellious, I suppose. I just hope he learns from this experience.”  
“He was being chased by two frickin’ Strigoi,” I interrupt with a step backward, “He’ll be lucky if he even lives to learn any kinda lesson.”  
“That’s right. That’s why I’m searching for potential leads rather than sitting scratching my chin and theorizing like some philosopher’s statue.” He began walking away, adjusting the scarf around his neck. “I’ve just been to visit Christian, and I’m off to see Vasilisa Dragomir next. It would be most beneficial to have some insight from an eye-witness to the event.” His weak hobbled limp carried him off the grass and towards the Dragomir abode. He waved goodbye and warned us about staying up too late. As if we cared.


	6. Chapter 5

“Dammit… Every time I get my hopes up, this happens!” Darko closed his eyes, looking down at the floor. He placed a hand over his face, curling his finger slightly. I wasn’t sure if he was referring to Tyrese, or just making a general statement.  
“I’m sure he’s fine, calm down,” I said, placing an arm around Darko. He quickly batted it away, running a short distance away from me. A very familiar distance.  
“Prepare yourself, Rose.” He said, returning to his fighting stance. “I need to ready myself in case Tyrese needs my help!”  
“On your toes, then. You’re immobile like that.” I said, showing him how to sort of bounce on the spot. “Stay on your toes, just like any sport. You need to be ready-“ I charged forwards, swinging my leg around and towards him. Jumping backward and landing on his toes, he nodded. “-for anything, anywhere, anytime.”  
“I can’t let you hit me, after all. If you were Strigoi, I’d be knocked back considerably.” Tell me about it, man! Talk about stating the obvious.  


We continued to spar with one another, blocking attacks and practicing physical combinations of attacks we could quickly and/or effectively string together.  Darko inevitably had the edge, being able to manipulate earth and not being limited to his physical capabilities.  Dhampir does have increased physical strength, but I was ill-trained in combat. I didn’t know much aside from the basics of martial arts and a few little sneaky tricks to get the upper hand on unsuspecting opponents. We were able to catch each other off guard multiple times, erasing as many mistakes as possible in the time we had lent to one another.   
“Look at that,”  Darko said, backing off from my right hook. He pointed to  Lissa’s window, where a black raven perched with ruffled feathers and a few seeds scattered around it. It would peck at the seeds rather slowly and refused to fly, as though it were in a lot of pain.   
“Yeah it’s a bird, so what?” I asked, retaining a fighting posture. Was this some forced attempt at distracting me?   
“I didn’t think  Lissa was the type to feed the birds. It’s against school rules.”   
“You  gonna eat her out?” I asked as menacingly as I could, drawing closer with fists balled. A physical spar was one thing, but I could definitely set this guy straight if I needed to.  Lissa called me a friend, so it was natural I’d stand up for her.   
“No, of course not. No one would do anything about it anyway since she is a royal. Corrupt system and all that, you know?”   


“You’re awfully  adherent to that ‘corrupt system’.”   
“Either way, I just thought it was interesting. If anyone royal were to follow the rules, I would expect it to be her. Apparently not, though. ”   
“It’s just feeding the birds, she’s not exactly committing tax fraud or anything…”   
“What has gotten into you, Rose?”  Darko tilted his head sideways, crossing his arms in some strange effort to look intimidating or important? I don’t know.   
“What do you mean?”   
“She says one nice thing and you’re all over her. Usually, you’re talking shit about the royals as if they’d killed your dog or something, but now… you’re brainwashed!”   
“I  ain’t brainwashed,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand. “ Lissa’s actually a nice and interesting person. I was  gonna get to know her more before you rudely interrupted.”   
“You did not even save  Tyrese !” His words shot through me like an arrow to the heart. “You just dropped everything to save the princess. No regard for your  actual friend, just save the complete stranger who by all means you should have hated!”   
“ Tyrese told me to-”   
“The Rose I know would never follow instructions so diligently. Not even from  Tyrese !” He turned away from me and I began to hear a quiver in his voice. His very existence perpetuated a dark aura that I couldn’t see, but could definitely sense. Every pore in my body was filled with chills. Every fiber of my being was crawling with uneasiness as he released a shaky breath.   


“Look, I get you’re upset that your brother’s gone, but we can work through it. I’ll help you find him, just stop pinning the blame on me.”   
“I do not want your help! How can I trust you when you keep behaving like this?” he howled like a wolf in the full moon. “He might not even be alive, and if he is, you might just abandon him again!”   
“I didn’t abandon him.” He threw his arm out to the side, fist clenched tightly.   
“You would never understand. You were raised to be a selfish little bitch.” The raven hopped down from the windowsill, quickly making an exit.   
“You piece of- “ I was cut off by the sound of a window opening to our left.   


“Is everything ok? I can hear a lot of shouting.” Ms. Karp called out from the window, covering her bare chest with a duvet. Her red hair was disheveled and her eyes were only half open.   
“I am… sorry to have woken you, Ms. Karp.”  Darko uttered, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.   
“That’s ok. Just be aware, the sunrise grows near. Stay safe and please don’t wake anyone else.” Ms. Karp’s eyes followed the Raven’s movements, watching with a frown as it hopped away, presumably in pain. There were a few seeds stuck in its claws and beak as it carried its ruffled feathers away. “Poor thing…” she muttered to herself, before returning to us.   
“We’ll leave right away. Sleep well, teach.” I said, nodding as she closed the window, the curtain sliding shut after.   
“From this point on, Rose, remember this well. We are not acquainted,”  Darko scowled, dragging his feet through the squelchy dirt he had used on me earlier. “I do not associate with backstabbers and traitors like you. I just wish I had seen through your nihilism sooner.”

Perhaps then,  Darko didn’t understand the bond I had created with  Lissa.  Tyrese sacrificed his own safety; I didn’t do anything to put him in a compromising position. As a result,  Lissa and I had saved one another’ s lives, and I felt compelled to protect her from further harm since I knew it would come. I finally had a purpose, a reason to keep going instead of cruising through high school life. Those little hook-ups with random guys which always ended in tears, stress-inducing assignments submitted 5 minutes before their deadlines… everything felt bearable at that point. That was thanks to  Lissa.


	7. Chapter 6

Waking up this time around didn’t feel as rough as it did last time. I lightly rubbed my eyes as I lifted my head up from the sofa cushions. The net curtains did not let any light slip through, meaning I must have slept through the entirety of daylight. Picking a piece of gold thread from off my face, I shifted into a sitting position. Part of me wanted to wake up and have everything undone, to break free from the dream I had been living.  
But this was no dream. My friendship with Lissa was real; else I wouldn’t be sleeping on her sofa. Tyrese, a good buddy, was nowhere to be found, last seen evading two bloodthirsty Strigoi. Darko was at his wit’s end with me, and while seeing him emotionally compromised was (in a bewitching way) amusing, I knew at some point I’d have to set things straight with him.

After properly getting up and borrowing  Lissa’s shower, the two of us spent some time together just talking. We got to know each other on a much better level and she comforted me about the  Darko’s confrontation last night. “I’m sure he’s just got it all misunderstood.” She said, rubbing her thumb across her wrist in slow, soothing motion. “That guy doesn’t know how to control his emotion once it’s out on display.”   
“You think so?” I asked, nonchalantly biting into a stick of sugared shortbread.   
“That’s what I think, yeah. I heard the whole thing; he was like a child just throwing a tantrum.” Is this how the popular kids felt when they were shit-talking people behind their backs?   
“Like, I get what he’s saying, but…”   
“It’s not your fault, don’t even think about blaming yourself.” She said as I slowly nodded. We were even on the same wavelength of thinking! 

“You know, he’s probably harboring some guilt of his own.”   
“What do you mean?” I asked.   
“Imagine if he had acted sooner. If he went with  Tyrese instead of idly waiting at home, or better yet not let  Tyrese go out after me. I imagine these possibilities never leave his mind.” That made sense to me. Looking for somewhere else to point the blame before checking home seemed like an understandable coping method. “He’ll come around in time; it’s not like they’ve stopped searching for  Tyrese after all.”   
“Yeah,” I nodded with a smile.   
“So,  are you going to today’s lectures?”  Lissa said, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. “You look like the rebellious type, Rose. Maybe I need to be a good influence on you.”   
“Don’t patronize me, royal. I know I get education and stuff if I  wanna be a good guardian. Sometimes I just can’t be fucked with it though.”   
“I think you’d make a splendid guardian anyway, Rose.” Her words curled around my eardrums, warming them with a fuzzy feeling that made me go light headed. I looked down at my hands, my knees,  my chest, anything to avoid eye contact.    
“You’ll give me a big head, stop it,” I said.   
“You’re cheeks have flushed bright red. Aren’t you sweet?”   
“They have not..!” I turned my head away as a grin started spreading across my lips.   
“I think you lack only two things: proper combat training and a real incentive to protect somebody.” Her hand grabbed my face, pushing it violently to look at her own. 

“You have a good heart, and if you applied yourself you could defend the  Dragomir Queen. When the time comes, you’ll be the best guardian I’ve ever met. ”   
“What kinda favor do you want? You’re being far too nice.” I joked. The two of us laughed for a moment,  then I took my head out from  Lissa’s hand.   
“Anyway,”  Lissa cleared her throat, “There’s an assembly later on addressing the  Tyrese incident. I’ll be giving a speech with Tatiana. But that’s mandatory anyway, so I’ll be dragging you there.  Until then, movie marathon?”   
“ You really do speak my language, huh?”

The two of us curled up together on the sofa and sat in front of  Lissa’s enormous flat screen TV. Grabbing whatever snacks and drinks we could find, we watched a long series of vampire movies, commenting on the boys which we’d go out with, the inaccurate depictions of vampires (everyone knows they’re not safe from the sun just because they’re out on a date) and we’d always decide on a character which we both liked. Strangely, the characters we picked always died soon after showing a side of them we liked.   


“There’s a lecture going on right now, Rose,”  Lissa commented, clearly making no effort to unwrap herself from the blanket and get up.   
“Yeah, there is.” We both looked at each other for a few seconds. Then we shrugged and laughed and went back to watching the movies.

We must have spent at least 8 hours watching just one series of movies. The entire school day had blown right past us, our truancy bothering neither of us as we remained in our unkempt state.   
“You know,” I said, poking  Lissa in the arm, “For a royal, you’re  kinda fun.”   
“ Tch. What were you expecting?  To curtsey at my every appearance and for me to follow all the rules without question? ”   
“ Kinda, yeah.” I chuckled.   
“I mean, being royalty pretty much gives you exemption from school rules ... unless you’re Natalie I guess… ” She smiled. “You just have to follow some more boring, important rules instead that are ten times as strict. As long as I keep my mouth shut, neither of us will be punished.”   
“ More important?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, “Like, what could be more important than a half-enforced no bullying rule?” Picking up on the blatant sarcasm,  Lissa laughed, the packet of crisps in her hand rustling.   
“Yeah, responsibility with power kinda thing, you know?  Boring stuff.” She sighed, “for example, I’ve been learning about something called ‘Spirit’.”


	8. Chapter 7

I’d heard of spirit before, but I wasn’t sure if it was just something made up to make me look naïve or gullible. It was the power to use one’s inner strength to heal and restore life to other living things. Through the rumors passed around the academy, I learned it was powerful enough to restore creatures that had only just died, to life again. It’s supposedly extremely rare among the  Moroi (Meaning I would never be able to use it) and did not rely on the outside world like other elements.   


“Is it actually real?” I asked, and  Lissa gave me a concerned look.   
“Are you ok? Yes, it’s  real, I thought they taught that early.” She maintained her concern for a moment but quickly looked at me normally again. “You must skip a lot of lessons.”   
“Hey, don’t call me out like this,” I said with a grin.   
“Victor  Dashkov was here last night talking to me about it. I think he’s deluded, but he reckons I might specialize in Spirit.”   
“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you use any elements,  Lissa,” I commented, loosening the blanket’s warm grip around me. “Which element do you specialize in?”   
“I use all four. But I’ve never even tried to use Spirit.” Just more confirmation that  Lissa was great: A competent user of all four elements, and the possibility she may wield the rare Spirit…   
“ So have you tried to use it since?” I asked, curious to know more. Like a puppy watching its owner waggle dog treats around, my interest was captivated.   
“No, I’m not supposed to try. It’s supposed to be really damaging to use.” She placed her hands on her knees and her shoulders hunched together. 

Her face dropped a little as she went on: “I’ve heard scare stories of people going insane, grievously wounding themselves and just becoming more lifeless with continued use of the element.  The more it’s used, the less life-force the user has left.”   
“ Wow.” I was speechless. The side effects of the Spirit sounded catastrophic.   
“On the bright side, the ability is said to manifest in people who are greatly empathetic. So it’s usually in good hands and can be used to save little critters and creatures without much backlash in the short term.” She giggled, rubbing her cheek. “I imagine the lessons where they teach  Moroi students about Spirit are the most amusing. Imagine being the teacher and watching the entire class fail to use Spirit.”   
“Depending on what kinda teacher you are, you’d either be laughing your ass off or crying your eyes out. Maybe it’s an experiment to see which teachers could be potential Spirit users.”   
“That would actually be pretty clever though!”  Lissa laughed as we returned our attention to the movie. And it held our attention. For about 2 seconds.   


Lissa and I responded to a knock at the door, opening it to reveal an absolute hunk of a man who I couldn’t take my eyes off of.  
“Dragomir, you’re needed for your speech very soon.” His voice was soft, quiet enough that you had to actively listen if you wanted to hear it. Not to be a desperate mess, but I desperately wanted to hear it! “I recommend you hurry on.”  
“Yeah, I will do, Dimitri. I’ll be there very soon.”  
“Good to know. Try not to keep people waiting; they’re looking to you for guidance.”  
“Understood. Head off without me; I’ll be right behind you.”  
“Stay safe then.” He then turned to look at me, his expression showing some soft discomfort. “Are… you ok there, miss?” Lissa waved her hand in front of my head and I staggered back, shaking my head to dispel the daydream I was stuck in. I must have looked like a creep, staring deep into his eyes and making god knows what kind of faces at him. Lissa gave me a knowing smirk as she dismissed Dimitri from the door. Closing it behind him, she laughed.  
“Did you see something you like there?” She mocked, “Don’t go seducing my guardian now, you hear? If he saves you instead of me, I’ll be very displeased with you.” We joked about the situation as we headed for the school building, knowing little of the danger that awaited us there.

The tiny raven hopped back onto  Lissa’s windowsill, pecking at the remainder of the seeds left out for it. It nestled into a small crevice in the wall, making itself comfortable like a child in a duvet. For some strange reason, it found a soothing comfort in the presence of  Lissa’s room. In a way, I could probably relate to the raven.    
Something about  Lissa’s presence made me feel like I’d known her all my life, yet it had been two days at most. In such a short space of time,  Lissa had become precious to me, a confidant so rare she felt safer than my parents to talk to.  Darko had mentioned before that I never had someone special to me, and I’d never understand how losing someone would feel. Perhaps I had trouble letting people get close to me, but when a person climbs over my insurmountable walls, makes the effort simply because they care, I guess there’s not much I can do to deny that affection.   
The raven slowly closed its eyes, crunching one last seed before it returned to slumber-land. At peace, it had found somewhere secure to remain.


	9. Chapter 8

The entirety of the student body sat on the curved chairs surrounding the stage. There was a continuous murmur that carried across the entire room, the occasional shout and loud laughter erupting from small groups of friends sitting together. Lissa and I entered through the double doors at the top of the stairs leading to the middle of the room.   


“All this riff-raff here to see you, huh?” I scoffed, nudging  Lissa in the hip.   
“I don’t even know what I’m gonna say to them,”  Lissa whispered to me, holding a hand to her chest. Her fingers fiddled with the v-neck collar of her dress as if rolling an imaginary cigarette out and over it. “Maybe I’ll just give them the generic kind of speech where I try to sound fancy but say nothing important.”   
Lissa hurried down the stairs as I took a seat in my usual spot for assembly. The seats in front of me were the only vacant seats I could see.  Tyrese and  Darko’s seats. At least I’d be able to see over  Darko’s massive head now. Everyone else around me seemed to be deeply engaged in conversation, a few of them batting glances towards me and the empty seats.    


“ Psst. You.” A finger tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned around and looked up at the seats, occupied by somebody I didn’t recognize.   
“What?” I hissed.   
“Alright, chill out  mardy .” She laughed with a hideous grin. “ Was it you who got  Tyrese killed?”   
“No,” I said, turning back around. I could see  Lissa preparing to get on stage, mouthing something to herself as she racked her nerves. I presumed she was rehearsing lines to herself. The girl laughed with the two guys sitting beside her (Neither of them was worth touching with a 10-metre stick), sneering at me when I turned around. “What’s your problem?”   
“ Darko says you got  Tyrese killed cuz you’re getting all cuddly with  Vasilisa. You’re a terrible friend.”   
“I presume you’re too interested in spreading drama to help search for him?” I sighed.   
“Then I trust that’s why you weren’t in class today.” She snickered, shaking her hand at me in a dismissive manner. “I’m done talking to you and your raggedy clothes. Get your face out of my sight, chop chop.”   
“She’s always skiving, Mia.  Probably out satiating her disgusting desires.” The group burst out laughing as I turned around, literally biting my tongue. It wasn’t worth getting pulled aside by the teachers. Just this once, I’d let them get away with it. “Imagine being a whore when your friends are in danger.”

I looked over at  Tyrese’s chair, the table in front of it scratched with notes expressing concern and worry for his wellbeing. Lots of “Hope you ok,” and “We miss u!” notes, and a few well thought out messages from his closest friends. Even in his absence,  Tyrese’s popularity and influence continued to radiate throughout the place. It was obvious that everyone was here to see if he had been found.   


Then I looked at  Darko’s table. It was absolutely clean; no notes or anything. Not even a mean message to be seen, just… nothing. To be fair, he would probably have lost his mind if he found writing all over his desk, but that never stopped anyone from vandalizing somebody’s stuff. Like a blip off the radar, he was gone with little to no concern from anyone around him. He was like a forgotten memory; he took off to save his brother and nobody noticed that he never came back. They were too busy thinking about the better brother. I couldn’t blame them, but a little consideration wouldn’t have hurt.

“Attention, students of St. Vladimir’s!” Silence befell the entire room as Tatiana led  Lissa to the middle of the stage. I felt Mia’s hand jab me in the back as she whispered something incomprehensible.  Probably a spiteful remark. Who actually cares what she has to say? Not me, that’s for sure. 

“Thank you all for gathering here today. The search for  Tyrese Miller is still ongoing, and today we add another missing person to the list. His younger brother,  Darko, has not been heard from since yesterday. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by these disappearances.” Tatiana stopped speaking for a moment and then she continued: 

“We do have a potential lead, and we need all of your co-operation to help us interpret this information.  If you have any sort of clue to add, however small, it would be greatly appreciated. Lives are at stake here, and the safety of our students comes first, as it always has, and always will.” I found myself silently repeating the last line of that. It never felt genuine to hear; things like this wouldn’t happen if safety was such a concern! Tatiana continued with her long and boring speech, saying a whole load of nothing using a thousand words to do so. The exact strategy  Lissa told me about.

I felt my eyes growing heavier and flickering, struggling to stay open. Leave it to Tatiana to make the most important subjects sound boring and uninteresting. The world could be ending and she’d speak in that same monotone voice, regurgitating the same senseless words. And we’d have to listen because she says so. 

“Now, we’ll hear a few words from an eye-witness to the crime. Vasilisa Dragomir, please, offer your fellow students some hope.” Everybody in the crowd clapped as Lissa stepped up to the stage, still fiddling with the collar of her dress. I gave her thumbs up from the crowd, and the moment she saw, she stood tall and prepared to deliver an inspirational speech.  


“ Thank you, everyone. I have-“

A loud smash shattered the glass of the window and the silence of the crowd. Four figures fell from the large stained glass window behind the stage and into the room, one of them rapidly crawling away from the other three.   
“Run!” he called out.   
“ Darko ?” I said, standing up from my seat. I began to tense up as my body began shaking. I didn’t feel safe at all. I couldn’t identify who the  Strigoi were from such a distance, but my brain still registered the threat. It remembered the superhuman strength. My back began to ache again.


	10. Final Chapter

“They’re Strigoi! Runaway!” Darko yelled in a panic, gripping a silver stake tightly in one of his hands, using the other hand to crawl backward. The crowd of students began screaming and running away as two of the three Strigoibehind Darko began hunting for targets. One lay unconscious on the floor.   


“Shit!” I said to myself, hurrying down the staircase past the hordes of fleeing students. I had to get to  Lissa’s side! The sound of painful screams violated my ears and I could feel every step hard on my ankles and knees. To my right, a freshman girl was pinned down by one of the  Strigoi. Her arms were held to the floor at the wrists by the  Strigoi’s hands, and her thighs were pinned down by its knees. She screamed aggressively as she squirmed to break free, thrusting her head forwards and trying to head-butt the thing off of herself. It looked at me, and I recognized the face. My mind flashed back two nights of sleep ago. I saw the face slowly strolling towards the bound Princess  Lissa. Lucas  Ozera, father of that creep Christian. He was back.   
“The  Ozera parents are back!”  Lissa called out, throwing her hand out and snapping the floor beneath the  Strigoi charging towards her. It tripped over, howling as it fell to the floor. Moira  Ozera.   


I returned my attention to the pinned girl, mere moments away from having fangs sunken into her teeth. I hurried over to her aid, vaulting ascending chairs and tables, building up momentum for a kick to the  Strigoi’s teeth. I knew what it was this time. I could face it.   
“Hey, asshole!” I yelled as I leaped across the row of chairs towards the  Strigoi, “Eat this!” I threw myself forward with my fist clenched, striking it clean in the teeth. It staggered and screamed, rolling off of the restrained student and stumbling backward. The girl immediately made a run for it, screaming at the top of her lungs and holding her hand to her neck.   
The  Strigoi turned to me, angered and bloodthirsty. Its nostrils were flared up and its veins bulged from its temples, like a bull that had just seen red. It instantly charged for me, faster than I could process. I saw its hand splayed out like a tiger’s claws, ready to try and slice some sense into me. I flinched, blinked for a moment, and braced myself to get knocked back. I opened my eyes.   
“ Dimitri !” I yelled. He was stood in front of me, the  Strigoi’s hand striking him in the side. He caught its hand on impact, pulling it with him for a heavy impact into the chairs behind him. He gripped the metal cross on his necklace, holding it up to the  Strigoi’s face.   
“Go help  Lissa .” He said. I nodded in response, looking back for a second before taking off down the stairs. “I’ll  take this one down so we can fight together.” Was I a bad person for thinking about him at a time like that?   


I joined  Lissa on the stage. She was ferociously grappling with Moira, the female  Strigoi. I could see the strain on  Lissa’s face. She was quickly being overpowered and I imagined thoughts of her previous fight with these  Strigoi were a negative influence on her strength.   
“Rose!  Help!” She uttered through gritted teeth.   
“You think that little gremlin can bail you out now? ” She growled as she snapped her fingers, the final  Strigoi slowly rising from the ground. I stared forward in horror as I recognized the face staring back at me.   


“T-Tyrese?!” I uttered in disbelief. And without any trace of a doubt, he stood there before me. His fuzzy afro hairdo, his broad shoulders, and beefy arms (which by now were only much more muscular) and those unforgettable custom trainers... it had to be him! On his neck, there were two large holes circled by stale blood. Evidently he’d been bitten… hard.  
“We meet again, Rose.” I nervously glanced at Lissa, being pushed backward and onto the floor by the Strigoi. “Ain’t no high school drama this time. This the real deal, ya know?”  
”Why? I know you could have taken those Strigoi out. Why did you let them turn you?” I started walking slowly backward as he menacingly approached me. His head was tilted all the way to the right.  
“You overestimate my abilities, Rose. Is that the reason you left me for dead?” I felt those words slam into me like a ton of bricks. Hearing them from Darko’s mouth was one thing but from Tyrese’s… “Of course now, I could take them one hundred times over. But that’s only because they converted me. They didn’t leave me for dead.”  
“Don’t say that as you mean it, Tyrese! You told me to save Lissa!”  
“I did. But I weren’t expecting you to actually listen.” He shook his head, baring his fangs at me. “I can’t believe the guy was right this whole time.”  
“Which guy?” I asked, but his response was a palm-strike to my chest. I was flung across the room, backflipping the air and landing hard on my front, my stomach making an impact with the concrete wall.  
“If ya live to see another day, you’ll know. I’ve no reason to tell ya who.” 

I scrambled to my feet, adrenaline giving me the strength to power through injuries that are probably extremely serious. I gripped my elbow, grimacing. “I just want  ya to know, it ruined my plans.” I looked over to my right; somehow  Lissa had freed herself from the  Strigoi’s grip. The two of them were engaged in a ferocious brawl of their own, though I could see  Lissa getting exhausted. I needed to help her!   
“What kinda plan would you have? You can barely plan for an essay.”   
“Good thing it wasn’t for an essay then, hey? It was only to get rid of the only person more popular than me.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing;  Tyrese was banking on me abandoning  Lissa to help him out.  “ Somethin ’ went wrong with my plan. I expected her compulsion to reach me, but for some reason, it didn’t.”    
“Are you saying..?”   
“I would have been able to resist it, but somebody else…” His red eyes stared deep into my soul, casting the evil aura over my face, “… somebody else was unable to resist.  Ain ’t that right? ” At that moment, I began to question my friendship with  Lissa.  I was extremely eager to go help her out, even before I knew she was in any danger.  Was it all influenced by her compulsion? I didn’t believe compulsion could be that strong…   
“Stop speaking  like that!” I yelled, lashing out at him with a balled fist. He sidestepped, dodged it faster than the blink of an eye. With a cocky chuckle, he tried to retaliate with an overly-confident uppercut, but I pushed him backward; how very  Tyrese of you,  Tyrese.  Strigoi doesn’t have an increased sense of balance, it seems, as he fell backward, bumping into the  Strigoi targeting  Lissa. They both crumpled on top of each other.   


“But it’s true, Rose. You abandoned our friendship for a complete stranger. The very stranger I wanted dead, no less.” Do you know what the crazy thing was? Even after learning that Lissa may have been compelling me this whole time, even after learning that the foundation of our friendship was based on something comparable to brainwashing, his words still rubbed me the wrong way. I felt offended on Lissa’s behalf.  
“You say that…” I said, backing up as he approached me again: “…but what was she even doing tied to that tree, anyway? Did she put herself there?”  
“It was easier than I thought it’d be. Spirit users are supposed to know when they’re being compelled, but I guess she didn’t.”   
“You bastard! You don’t even know if she has Spirit!”  
“Either way, his experiment is done. Lissa’s compulsion strength has been measured out. I need a finish up my part of the job.”

Before I could react, his foot crashed hard into my stomach and forced me against a large marble pillar. A cross engraving cracked and small chunks of marble fell onto the floor and into my hair. I watched in the distance as the  Strigoi pushed  Lissa to the floor, pinning her down by sitting on her chest. I reached an arm out and tried to call her name, but the blow had winded me. “This is the end for you, Rose. This is what  ya get for stabbing me in the back and ruining my plans!” He withdrew a dark grey shiv from his pocket,  gripping it above his head in both hands. A twisted smile spread across his face as he looked down on me,  ready to strike.

“WAIT!”

A familiar monotone voice called from the top of the stairs. Darko and Dimitri came running down, the latter holding the unconscious Strigoi in his hands. “Do not kill her, Tyrese. Please, if there is any reason left within you.” His focus wavered, the grin distorting into shock.  
“Darko!” Tyrese muttered, the shiv shaking in his hands.  
“Looks like he’s recently turned,” Dimitri said, holding the unconscious Strigoi up to Lissa’s oppressor. Upon seeing its partner beaten in combat with a metal cross necklace around their neck, it shrieked, snatching the other Strigoiaway and scurrying off through the window it had broken. “Make it fast, Darko.”  
“Please, stop what you are doing. I cannot bear to see you like this.” He rushed over to Tyrese, embracing him in a strong hug. His arms wrapped tightly around his Strigoibrother, and I watched some kind of evil escape through a deep breath from Tyrese’s mouth.  
“But… I’m number one, bro. First Rose, who backstabbed us. Then, the Princess. Then I’ve asserted myself.”  
“You idiot! You never needed to assert yourself for those fake friends!”   
“Who else would care for me?”  
“Me, dammit! I care!” I heard Darko snivel, sucking snot back up his nose. “I know I don’t show it very often, but I care! I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”  


“Alas,” Tyrese said, rubbing Darko’s back with his hand. “I am turned. I need to be put down before I’m completely consumed.” He tapped Darko’s other hand, still holding the silver stake.   
Lissa rushed to my side, dusting me down with her hands and pressing her hands into places where my clothes had ripped from impacting the environment. Delicately, she pulled chunks of marble from out of my hair.  
“Lissa. I’m so glad you’re ok.” I collapsed into her chest, adrenaline wearing off and sapping me of my strength. No strength left to argue. To move. To question Tyrese’saccusations.  
“Darko. Please do it.” Tyrese held his little brother’s free hand in his own, both of them wielding sharp instruments of death in their other hands. Momentarily, Darko turned to face me.  
“You either live long enough to become what you hate, or you die a hero.” He said to me as my eyes began to grow heavy. “I did not save you because I forgave you. I will never forgive you; my hatred will follow me to the grave. I rescued you to prove a point.” I nodded at his words, smirking. “Friends are family. They look out for each other. But again, I do not expect you to ever understand that.” He noticed that I had been sticking my middle finger up at him the entire time, then turned back to Tyrese with a scowl.  


“I’ll miss you, bro.” He twitched violently, gripping the shiv tightly in his hands. “So you’re  coming ’ with me.”   
“Good.  On three.” The two of them counted down from three, raising their weapons. On zero, they penetrated each other’s hearts. The silver stake took  Tyrese from this world. He died a  Strigoi but held onto his light with an iron grip.   
The shiv killed  Darko. Who cared? Not Rose Hathaway. I closed my eyes, consciousness slipping away from me.


	11. Ending

I felt a cold sweat break out over my body, but I couldn’t at first tell if I was conscious. Some intrusion, a dark force pushed its way into my mind, knocking the dream from out of my mind and rooting her nightmare in its place…

The night was young as ravens cawed from the trees above. It was cramped in the middle seat of the back of her car, but I didn’t mind too much. We were having a great time, just  vibing to the music on the radio as we went off on our way for our winter break.    


“Nice to be free from St.  Vlad’s , hmm?”  f ather asked us, turning a corner and passing a large oak tree.   
“Yeah, you know it.” I said, nudging  Rose with my elbow.    
The vision blurs and the sound is muffled. I struggle to make anything out for a while, watching as the faded trees roll past the windows of the car.  Rose ’s face is blurred and I can’t count the fingers on my hands. The clock on the car radio reads an incomprehensible time, numbers phasing into one another.   
“I still laugh at  Tyrese’s ac cusations,  Lissa .” Rose chuckled , somehow hearing  little snippets of her voice but no-one  else’s .  “Compulsion  to make a friend out of me? How jealous does a guy  gotta be?” I heard muffled laughter in response.

  
The  ride was full of idle chit chat which I could respond to and interact with, but never properly hear. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, reminiscing our eventful year at St. Vladimir’s and singing in anticipation for our destination. Well, that’s what I imagine they were talking about.   


It made me think about everything that had happened since I had met Rose. Even since she saved me from Christian’s  Strigoi parents, since she released me from being tied to that tree, we’d gotten along like fish in water. We’d become closer than two peas in a pod. To confirm, I was not intentionally using compulsion of any kind on Rose. I think she was just naturally very empathetic towards me. She still is. I told her that one day she would make a great guardian… I wonder when that day will come for her. I hope she finds somebody worth protecting.   


I thought about what Victor had brought up: Spirit. Was it possible that I had control over that element? I felt like it must have been silly talk; I surely would know by now. The amount of snails I’ve stepped on, injuries I’ve seen my friends endure… if it turned out I could have done something about it, I was  gonna scream!   


“Hey, can we turn the music up, Eric?” Rose said, rocking her head like those  emo rock band people.   
“Look out!” someone yells from either side of me. Eric’s hand reaches out for the radio as a truck speeds in front of us. I look right and see a tree. Everything else is blurry. I see a tree. Somewhere deeper in the forest, I see a pair of familiar eyes watching us. But I can’t recognize them.  They’re frail and old, filled with tainted wisdom.  I know them but I can’t recognize them before they fade into black.   


No.. I have to keep my eyes open! I focused my vision to the best of my ability, the fuzziness becoming crispy and defining the world once again. The car rolls sadly onto its side, blocking the right side doors against the road. The smashing of the chassis is obnoxiously loud, like a steelworks factory. The airbag in the front seat ejects at a rapid velocity, pushing my father’s neck far backwards. I might have heard a snap, but I wasn’t sure.   


My body pressed hard against Rose’s as we were violently thrown towards these doors. I felt her head impact hard against the shattered glass, clonking loudly against the tarmac road. I screamed as I looked at her face, bloodied and unresponsive. The car teetered back and forth, and I put my fingertip into my mouth, biting onto the nail on top of it. I waited anxiously for the car to stop. Seconds felt like hours as the ruined mechanical beast threatened to fall onto its side, but it remained  put after a few more moments of wobbling.   


The car doors were curved at the top, like any car, and allowed me to clamber out of the car. Over Rose, I felt my knee hit her face and apologized the second I felt it. She did not respond. My hands were penetrated in multiple places by shards of broken glass. My shins and toes shared a similar fate, and I started bleeding onto the road. The oncoming traffic stopped and stared in horror, watching me clamber out of the vehicle. Every movement of my hands pressed the glass further and further inside, making me grimace and grunt through gritted teeth.   


I stood up after crawling far enough away from the car. I stared in horror and dismay at the sight before me. Rose’s head bobbed out through the car window, beaten and bloodied by the impact of the tarmac. My mother and father were unresponsive, father’s face buried deep in a slowly deflating airbag. I brought my hands up to my face, trying not to cry but the tears had no intention of staying put. Andre was flopped atop Rose in a static position, arm reaching out to me. In mere seconds, it dropped to the floor in defeat, pushing small shards of glass around it. The sound of it scratching against the road was like nails against a chalkboard for me. I fell hard onto my knees, sobbing loudly as my whole world began crumbling around me.   


“Excuse me miss, would you like me to call an ambulance?” A voice shouted from a car across the road. I looked over and nodded, the blinding shimmer of their headlights pounding against my eyes. My hands were shaking and twitching, pressing into my face with a light force I couldn’t control.

I have to get closer to them! I slowly walked towards the wreck of our car, closing my eyes. Why was I closing my eyes? I had to be strong! I ran over to Rose, shaking her with my hands.   
“Please, wake up Rose! Please! Don’t leave me here!” Her lifeless face wiggled with the movement of her body, her hair tangling in the process. I couldn’t even breathe anymore. Her cheek was viciously scratched up, little stones and gravel lodged into it like dirt on a carpet.  Her flesh was in streaks on the road, like a tiger’s scratch but in reverse. Her hair was matted and drenched in her own blood.  I brushed her face, wiping the gravel away and watching the tiny stones tinkle against the floor , making little ripples in the pool of blood her face lay in . Blood splattered over her face  and transferred onto my hand and  goosebumps grew so intense ly that I was afraid my skin was about to solidify into some kind of stone-like structure.

I lifted her head up properly; the gashes were deep enough to see through to her skull. I could see the capillaries and veins throbbing as they continued to pump blood out of her system and onto the road. My fingers squelched against the torn sinew and I cringed at the slippery texture. Her white cranium stood out like a sore thumb. Out of morbid curiosity, I ran my fingernail across the scratches on it, able to fit my nail into the crevices and tiny marks. I regretted the decision immediately resisted the urge to throw up. I lowered her head back into the sanguine pool beneath her, hands shaking like a furless cat in the cold.

I then looked at Andre, whose knees had snapped forwards from the impact of the truck. His shin stuck out from underneath his knee on his right leg, and his left one was curled into  an upwards L-shape. He must have been kneeling and looking out of the back window. His head was severely dented from hitting the roof of the car at a high force, blood leaking from his ears onto Rose’s clothes. His face was fearful and agonized, with tears streaming down both of his cheeks. He must have been in a lot of pain. I reached out to grab his hand, feeling the cracks and splinters of broken bones under his skin, like hay felt through silicone gloves. I could smell something foul coming from his trousers and I figured he must have defecated in the panic of the crash. The slimy brown ooze seeping from his trouser legs confirmed this suspicion. 

I crawl ed over to the front of the car. I jumped as a loud thud signified my father’s face fell from the airbag and pressed against the dented and cracked window , bent in an unnatural way . The wing mirror, smashed into pieces, showed my pale and distraught reflection. I see mother lying on father’s lap, her face frozen in shock like a deer caught in car headlights. The window wipers had pierced through the windscreen, poking her in the thigh and ripping out  several arteries and veins, tangling between them like a spider’s web . I couldn’t smash the glass. I pounded it with my elbow, my fist, my feet, but it wouldn’t break.

Then, the engine erupted, sparking with ferocity and igniting itself into a crimson red inferno. The flames licked the car doors and crept into the car through the broken windscreen. I gasped in terror as they began to curl around my mother’s face and arms, searing holes into her clothes and skin alike. Her face began to roast and change in complexion, melting and blackening into a sickening disfigurement. The heat was like a sauna on my face, making my tears evaporate not long after they had been shed. I was sweating profusely as the fire continued to spread. I pounded harder on the window, watching my father’s head snap further and further back with each strike. His neck had quite clearly been broken by the airbag.

Fire continued to consume my mother, stealing her body and leaving behind a sooty and ashy mess. Large boils were inflating on her cheeks and eyelids as her lips melted into one singular piece of charred flesh. Reluctantly, I gave up trying and watched as my mother caught completely on fire, embracing my father in the flames as well. The smell of burning hair was absolutely sickening, and the tires began to light ablaze, sending the pungent smell of burning rubber miles into the distance . Her arms molded into father’s waist and hips, sealing them together as one in death. The metal frame of the car began to bend under the strain of the heat, disfiguring the car door into a position that could never be opened normally.

I returned to Rose, tears streaming down my face and splashing against her eyelids. I held my hand out over her head, closing my eyes and turning away from the sight. I couldn’t bear the pain of looking at her anymore. I felt like I was being observed (obviously by someone other than the drivers stuck in the road) but didn’t care enough to look around. I felt a strong pain in my arm, probably from the glass severing the skin of it, but I ignored it. Something, deep in the back of my mind told me to power through the pain, to keep my hand right where it was. Some unknown influence just started taking over for me, as if trying to drag her soul back from the land of the dead. I felt some kind of force tethering my arm to an invisible object, dragging it back like a survivor dangling off the edge of a cliff, holding onto a rope and being  pulled up by a trusted friend.

There wasn’t much time to work with. The fire was quickly spreading towards the gas tank, and closer and closer to Rose. It would certainly claim  her just like my mother and if b y some miracle of God she was not burnt, the ensuing explosion would surely take her.

“…” I heard a grunt come from within the car. I was tempted to withdraw my hand, but the force in my mind did not instruct me to stop. I could feel parts of my wrist and arm opening up and bleeding onto the floor, leaving me in excruciating pain. My peripheral vision began to go dark as I focused on my arm, watching the skin sever itself and split apart. It crackled and splattered and blood sprayed from the cuts. I gritted my teeth and endured the pain,  continuing to pull my dear friend from the void. If it cost me my life, I would bring her back. She was not going to stay dead.

“…Lissa..?” Rose grumbled, crawling out from under the car wreckage. “Ah! Fuckin’ glass..!” she yelled, pushing it aside as she made her way towards me. I lowered my arm, blood pooling on the road beneath it. I felt light headed, but managed to wrap my free arm around Rose’s waist, hugging her tightly.  
“I can’t believe it worked… Rose, you’re alive… Haha!”I uttered in a breathy whisper, before falling onto my front, eyelids rapidly closing.  
“No, no no no..! Hold on Lissa! Just hold on!” Rose’s voice called out to me as I slipped into unconsciousness. I could distantly hear the sound of sirens in the distance. 

Rose carried my barely  conscious body like I were a being pulled out of a burning house by a firefighter. I looked down at my shredded hands, seeing the glass glinting against the tears in my eyes as I noticed the razor-blade like cuts plaguing my wrist. I ran my other hand across  them, peeling the skin back and watching it flap grotesquely back into place as my hand moved past each cut.

Then I heard the explosion.

I saw arms,  legs, flaming torsos go flying from out of the car. I tried to scream, but all my energy was gone. The car erupted into a demonic pyre, sacrificing whatever was left inside to the circles of hell. Rose placed me down onto the floor, squatting beside me with a hand over my head. She tried to reassure me that everything was going to be ok, but I couldn’t shake the image of my father’s broken neck and my mother’s scorching face.

Lissa’s hand w as hovering over my head as I pried my eyes open, escaping the nightmare. For a moment I  hallucinated scars and blood on her wrist, but I rubbed my eyes and they vanished. Long strands of dark hair were sticking to my face, drenched in sweat. I blinked, shaking my head as  Lissa’s image disappeared. I looked over to the right, seeing her thrashing and kicking about in her bed. She must have been d reaming the same thing as me.

“ Liss ,” I whispered to her, placing my hands gently on her side. “ Liss , you aren’t there anymore. Wake up.” After a few moments, I could see here eyelids flutter like butterfly wings. In the dim light, I could see consciousness take a grip on her mind, and her hyperventilated breathing slowed to a normal rate. She leaned into me, her head rested softly on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm softly around her waist and ran my hand through her hair.

“It’s ok,” I told her gently. “Everything’s ok.”

I just held her like that for a few moments. Neither of us spoke a word; we were too distracted by the passing thoughts. The grotesque, high definition recollection of the traumatizing event was beyond disturbing. The fact that  Lissa recalled the events so well  proved that it was a traumatic experience. I could see every ember, every flicker of light. Each fiber of skin that got caught in the fire made its own disturbing crackle. And I had to endure every sickening detail each time.

I couldn’t downplay how it must have felt for  Lissa (or rather, how it still feels.) Her entire family was lost in that one hellish moment, and she watched as their lives slipped away. As if that wasn’t bad enough, that fine explosion sealed the deal, removing any hope of salvation for them. I hear stories of survivor’s guilt everywhere I go, usually from dudes who lost their pub mates in the war or something similar. Usually from mothers who lost a child from negligence or abusive partners or kidnappers. Nobody who I felt close to had ever experienced anything similarly shocking. At least, I never thought so.   
Then  Lissa shared her nightmare with me. Someone who I actually cared about was affected by an event that should have gripped her by the ankles and dragged her to the depths of depression, or pushed her off the cliffs of sanity with forceful arms. For the first time, I saw true suffering. I felt true suffering.  I watched as someone I loved played in the ashes of everything they ever loved, desperately clawing at the remains of the fire to salvage anything that could have been left over.

I looked over at  Lissa , and she shook her head. She wanted to stay here a little bit longer. I was willing to oblige for as long as she needed. I looked away and her head continued to softly shake for a while. She was afraid to blink. Scared to cast  herself back into that world of agony.

“Once upon a time I remember talking to someone. They weren’t a very memorable person.” I said in a soft whisper.  Lissa wouldn’t look at me. She had focused her gaze on Oscar who had come up to her lap and curled up there. She stroked his fur and fiddled with his ears, watching as they flittered about when they sensed her hand. 

She was definitely listening though. Lissa was always listening to me. “I don’t remember his name, but he told me that I would never understand what it’s like to lose somebody I care about.” My mind quickly flashed through some images.  
An empty desk surrounded by people who didn’t notice.  
A resting bitch face with no expression in particular. Simply irritable.  
A raven pecking seeds from off of Lissa’s windowsill, and somebody confused by the sight.  
A monotone vice slowly descending into an endless pit of emotion.  
A grey shiv piercing their chest. Piercing their heart.

Their amount of defining features must have been close to zero. I remembered their words, but not their name. Not their appearance. Not their presence in my life.

Lissa nodded as I went on. “I don’t remember anything about him, not even his name. But he might have had something of a point. If you were to have died in that crash and it were me that survived,  Lissa , I… I don’t know what I would have done.” Her hand froze on the  cat’s back. “You’re a lot stronger than you think; the things you saw and went through would have destroyed me. But your empathy pulled you through.” Her head rested harder on my shoulder as I continued to play with her hair.

She had that dream again. I had that dream again.

We had that dream again.


End file.
